Vista  A glazed blueberry cake doughnut at Danny’s Donuts in Vista earned sixth place Tuesday in a national ranking of “America’s 25 Best Donuts,” but the honor is bittersweet for the family that makes it.

Dan Abeyta, the San Marcos man who developed the recipe and ran the shop until the day before he died at age 76 last January, isn’t here to enjoy the sweet celebration.

“He would have been so exalted to get that sort of recognition,” said a tearful Marilyn Abeyta, his wife of 58 years. “We’re just this tiny little shop with no big production line. He would have been so exuberant at the news.”

The New York-based website The Daily Meal

(thedailymeal.com) announced Tuesday that Abeyta’s 95-cent blueberry orbs are among the best doughnuts in the country, not far behind the plain glazed at both Doughnut Vault in Chicago (#1) and Round Rock Donuts in Texas (#2) or the lemon poppy doughnuts (#3) at Dough in Brooklyn.

Danny’s Donuts isn’t even the best-known doughnut shop in San Diego County, but The Daily Meal’s dining editor Dan Myers said his New York-based website likes to tweak the establishment by spotlighting hometown cult favorites that haven’t yet made it on the culinary map.

Started in 2010 by award-winning cookbook author Colman Andrews, The Daily Meal enraged pizza aficionados in October when it declared San Diego (not New York or Chicago) the pizza capital of America. The buzz from that story (and many other lists on the site) helps the site generate more than 9 million visitors a month, Myers said.

For its second annual doughnut ranking, Myers said that only classic raised and cake styles (no cronuts or beignets) were considered. Quality and freshness were important factors in the rankings, but cult status was especially key, because The Daily Meal staff didn’t actually taste and rate the sweets themselves. Instead, they based their list on a myriad consumer rankings, reviews and regional reports.

“Doughnut shops are things of cultish devotion,” Myers said. “Anyone who’s been to Danny’s will tell you they want to go back very soon for the blueberry cake, which is really just spectacular.”

Dan Abeyta spent 46 years in the doughnut business, many with Dunkin’ Donuts on the East Coast before operating a string of his own Danny’s Donut shops. He retired from the business in 2001, but missed interacting with the public, so three years later he opened the Vista store next to Peppertree Frosty at 102 Eucalyptus Ave.

“Doughnuts were my Dad’s passion,” said Chuck Abeyta, a Realtor from Orange County who has stepped in as head baker and manager since his father’s death. “It wasn’t just the doughnuts, it was really the people. He loved talking to people every day.”

Marilyn Abeyta said that her husband was beloved by customers because he would give away free doughnut holes to children, offered a homeless man a line of credit and if customers showed up without change at the cash-only business, he’d let them pay on their next visit. He died in his sleep on Jan. 6 and since then the family has struggled to keep the business alive.

“When he passed we wanted to keep things going for his sake, but it’s been hard,” Chuck Abeyta said.

All of the recipes at Danny’s Donuts have stayed the same and the customers have remained loyal. The shop’s best-known doughnut isn’t the blueberry cake but the Apple Betty, a $1.75 turnover that customers tell Chuck Abeyta they’ll drive an hour to eat. He sells about 3 dozen blueberry cakes on weekdays and 9 to 12 dozen on weekends. A few customers will try to buy every one of the blueberry cakes in stock, but Chuck Abeyta said he likes to always keep extras on hand so nobody leaves disappointed.

“Their doughnuts are always fresh and delicious,” said customer David Jones of Vista, who stopped by the shop Tuesday to pick up several dozen doughnuts donated by the Abeytas to a local church charity.

Chuck Abeyta said he thinks the secret to the blueberry cake is that it’s sweet, but not too sweet. Two kinds of cake flour are blended to make the batter, which incorporates dried blueberries. After the doughnuts are fried to a medium brown, they’re topped with a light glaze.

“There aren’t a lot of shops that make blueberry cake doughnuts,” he said, “but ours are really airy, which I know people like.”